Saturday 22 August 2015

SEESAW Magazine - Kenwood Avenue by Adam J Long

Adam Long talks about the people within his mid-town community and how he has just set off from his front door taking images of people without a preset plan.

This is very interesting approach to capture images that you see rather than images you may want to create. Of course I'm sure there is much more to it than that.

http://www.seesawmagazine.com/longpages/longintro.html

His images are in black and white film.

My first impression is that whilst they are not perhaps framed well, and anybody doing street photography will know how difficult this can be, he captures simple elements and themes within his images that reveal small elements about the people he has capture and/or the place in which they live.

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to reproduce any of the images so will describe a few of them in my terms and let you find them within the website above:

The first image of the chap in long trousers, polished shoes and shirt tucked in with slick here looks a little bewildered by what he sees. He himself in the shade watching and capturing memories in his mind opposed to Adam Long who is capturing them on film.

What appears to be a door-to-door salesman taking a break with his suitcase progressing down the pathway leading to house front doors. Such a a simple image and of course I may mis-interpret what the man is doing but the inclusion of the main pathway, and short pathway to multiple houses I feel is a subtle purposeful inclusion in the image to let the viewer know what the man is doing.

The glamorous pose of the tattoo'd lady who appears to be a the shop assistant in the store. There is just enough information here to tell us what she does, the "pinny" and shop background. The tattoos suggest a different life in her past, on the doorstep a paint tub and coffee mug, in the doorway a large collection of balloons.Does she dream of a new life or is she reflective of a past life.....

There is a pairing of images and I wonder what Long whats us to take from them

The man I describe in the first image next to the is presented again along side an image of a cut-down tree. Does he stand then protective over his?

The images each of a car, a discarded fast food drink outside one and a large hat in the other. Both suggest heat and thirst and the cars look dated.

The pair of images with one with a car dented at the front and the other of what appears a tatoo'd father with protective arms around his young daughter. Though perhaps not attached, together they create a narrative. So, narratives can be created powerfully by a pair of images creating a narrative that the photographer wants you to discover...very interesting.

In a similar approach the tattoo'd man smoking barefoot with a coffee alongside the image of a mother / grandmother. I wonder if the narrative here from Adam Long is to suggest the man has gone off the tracks following the loss of a person constructive and meaningful within the subjects life. Again, a narrative is created by this pairing.

There are some additional images on his website for Kenwood Avenue and looking at his commercial work he again has some pairing of images, before and after

http://www.adamjlong.com/

This has been very helpful in that I've discovered how an unplanned approach taking your time capturing what seem to be simple images can be very powerful. Joining of images in a pair can create an interesting narrative, whether real or manufactured can be visually engaging.

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